Using Social Media for the Prevention of Pediatric Burn Injuries: Pilot Design and Usability Study (Preprint)

Abstract

BACKGROUND Most pediatric burn injuries are preventable. Social media is an effective method for delivering large-scale messaging and may be useful for injury prevention in this domain. OBJECTIVE The purpose of this study was to evaluate the feasibility of creating a social media campaign for pediatric burn injury prevention. METHODS Ad spots containing a headline, short introduction, and video were created and posted on Facebook© and Instagram© over four months. Ad spots were targeted to parents and caregivers of young children in areas of our region with the highest number of burn injuries. We assessed the impact of each ad set using ThruPlays, reach, and video plays. RESULTS Fifty-five ad spots were created, with an average length of 24.1 seconds (range 10-44 seconds). We reached 26,496 people during the campaign. The total Thruplays of the 55 ad spots were 14,460, at a cost of $0.19 per ThruPlay. Ad spots related to home safety had a significantly higher daily ThruPlay rate than those related to fire safety (6.5/day vs. 0.5/day, p<0.01). CONCLUSIONS Social media is a feasible modality for delivering public health messages focused on preventing pediatric burn injuries. Engagement with these ads is influenced by ad presentation and focus of the underlying injury prevention message.